On Saturday, the seventh phase of voting for West Bengal’s nine Lok Sabha constituencies began. There have been reports of violence and tension in several areas during this time. Indian Secular Front (ISF) and CPI(M) supporters were reportedly fighting in the Satuliya area of Bhangar, in the Jadavpur constituency, which is close to Kolkata. The fact that there were bombs made the fight more dangerous for the ISF members, who sustained multiple injuries.

An enraged mob broke into polling places in the South 24 Parganas district of Kultali, seized an electronic voting machine (EVM), and threw it into a nearby pond. This incident happened as a result of local residents taking retaliatory action by seizing and discarding the electronic voting machine (EVM) equipped with Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) after some polling agents were allegedly denied access to the booths.

“Today at 6.40 am, a local mob stole the Reserve EVMs and papers of the Sector Officer near Benimadhavpur FP school at 129-Kultali AC of 19-Jaynagar (SC). One CU, one BU, and two VVPAT machines were thrown into a pond.A sector officer has filed a formal complaint, and the appropriate steps have been taken. The polling process is ongoing in all six of the Sector’s booths. The Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal issued a statement saying, “The Sector Officer has received new EVMs and papers.”